Why is the Apple ID now an email address (and other ID confusion w/ my products)?

I tried to change my old Apple ID to something more mature and me.
I succeeded once but couldn't log in with it, so I again used my old, outdated ID.
When I went to My Apple or whatever the site is and changed it, it FORCED me to change it to an email. Now my email is the ID and is broadcast for the world to see, which I'd rather not have.
Furthermore, my Ipods (I have an old 4th gen-i think- Ipod nano, and a new 4th gen-i think- iPod touch, which I now use more often). show multiple apple IDs.
For most things the touch still shows the original ID, but for things like game center it shows the newer one, and for still more things it shows the email.

Besides the obvious inconvenience of having an email address as a name (who's bright idea was that anyway? *rolls eyes*), how can I get them all to show the same thing, and how can I be sure it's the right ID?

I have had an apple ID since about 2006 and it's always been my email address . . . Not sure why that's a problem. Your email address is a "public" piece of data. It's not secure. Make sure your email password is secure though.

I understand what the OP is saying, it's how I wound up here. I'm having the same issue.

It's annoying because they now want the user id to be an email address but it can't be the same as your account's address. It makes no sense and escalated the problem when I've configured 2 new ipads. It's keeps wanting new email addresses as user ids, otherwise says "already in use."

I understand what the OP is saying, it's how I wound up here. I'm having the same issue.

It's annoying because they now want the user id to be an email address but it can't be the same as your account's address. It makes no sense and escalated the problem when I've configured 2 new ipads. It's keeps wanting new email addresses as user ids, otherwise says "already in use."

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What do you mean account address? My Apple ID is my email. It is also the email address that I received my iTunes store receipts when I buy something. All my Apple stuff is tied to a single email.

i had one of the first iPods almost 10 years ago. my original apple id wasn't my email address. it wasn't close. even now, my apple id is the same. my apple id doesn't have any @gmail or yahoo.com after it. it wasnt until i got an iPad2 that i had to link an email to my apple id. apple went ahead and tried to change my apple id to my email address. i had issues just like the thread starter. the only time i use the email address for my apple id is on the iCloud setup. everything else on my ipad2 and iPhone 4s uses my oe apple id

What do you mean account address? My Apple ID is my email. It is also the email address that I received my iTunes store receipts when I buy something. All my Apple stuff is tied to a single email.

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For people that always has their email address as their id, this apparently hasn't been an issue but apple definitely changed something in their system to drive the rest of us nuts.

My id had always been a non-email id name up until setting up a new ipad. From there on, logging into itunes wanted an email address and if I typed the email address that was my account address, it said "already in use." So I had to put in a different email address....at that same time I registered my @me address to kill 2 birds.

Then, I had a problem with the ipad and when I got a new one the same process started all over again and I had to put in another different email address.

And, then when trying to log into the "messenger" account, it happened yet again.

Last night I figured out that each time is was saying "email address already in use" and not letting me proceed, so I'd type in a new address, it was creating new accounts each time. Pretty obvious but not as to why it wouldn't let me log in with my existing account info, where I get my invoices, or any of the other addresses I had added since.

I spend a couple of hours online last night on apple's "manage account" and was able to unverify most addresses and then consolidated my info back to 1 account. It seems to be fine now but not back to perfect.

On top of it, they have a new password system that has to contain no less than 8 characters with numbers and a capital and you have to change it to something different if you need to reset your password. (can't use same password for 1 year it says). So that was adding to the headache.

This whole issue has erased a part of my brain that I was very proud of. For 15 years, I've used my memory for all my login info to everything I've ever had and now I can't remember squat.

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